


Fragile Memories

by faraandmera



Category: FRAGILE さよなら月の廃墟 | Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon
Genre: (or almost), Gen, M/M, Reincarnation, everyone's reincarnated, good titles? for my fics? unlikely, memories (the fragile dreams game mechanic kind), so they may act slightly different, specifically seto because he has older-seto's memories, spoilers for literally everything but also the game is ten years old so, the locket, this really wasn't meant to be this long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2020-10-25 02:44:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20716793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faraandmera/pseuds/faraandmera
Summary: The world ended, once. Hundreds of years ago, with a failed experiment, and sleeping becoming the death of people. Eventually, a number of those who survived found each other. Came together and, throughout years and multiple generations, a new society was built.Were Seto to tell anyone that he remembered the time in which there was no society left, no one would believe him. He was, after all, a teenager. He wouldn’t have been born, at the time.But he did. Remembers traveling through the ruined, abandoned land that was once full of people. Remembers fighting for his life; fighting to find someone to stay with.To have anyone at his side, so he wasn’t alone.





	Fragile Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This took longer than i'd like to think about to finish, but it's here.  
i have no further explanation tbh
> 
> the hardest thing was finding the place to end this, but i did

The world ended, once. Hundreds of years ago, with a failed experiment, and sleeping becoming the death of people. Most of society collapsed, a tiny number of people surviving during this time. But, eventually, a number of those who survived found each other. Came together and, throughout years and multiple generations, a new society was built. Upon the ruins left behind, and with knowledge gained from books that told stories of the past, this society came to be similar to- but distinct from- some of the multiple societies that existed before.

Were Seto to tell anyone that he remembered the time in which there was no society left, no one would believe him. He was, after all, a teenager. He wouldn’t have been born, at the time. But he did. Remembers traveling through the ruined, abandoned land that was once full of people. Remembers fighting for his life; fighting to find someone to stay with. To have anyone at his side, so he wasn’t alone.

That was hundreds of years ago. When he was teenager- the first time- before the final person he ever met passed on, like everyone else had. He grew up, after that, but never managed to make it to find anyone else. This time, that isn’t a concern.

This time, he’s a normal kid. His parents- people he’d never met, in his first life- care for him. Want the best for him. So he can’t bring himself to tell them. The memories- the fear, sadness, and friendship, hope- that have slowly but surely returned to him. He has a pet cat, and a fear of dogs, that would seem normal to anyone. Wouldn’t indicate what it actually does. He goes to school, has friends, but nothing feels as _important_ as it did before. Back when every person he met was a rarity. He’s glad for how things are- appreciates it more than most people would value small things- but it’s strange. He feels disconnected.

And then, one day, he meets Sai. She looks so much like she did before- he must too- except that she’s alive. He’d only seen her physical body once, when he covered it thinking she looked cold. He’s far more used to the ghost who floated beside him, who followed him to the end before she left. Who had explained what happened to the world, to him.

Now, however, she stands on the ground. Like a normal person. In school, shes a year above him. It’s chance that they meet. She crashes into him, while neither are paying enough attention to where they’re going. There a pause, when she meets his eyes, apologies failing to make their way past his lips. She was holding something- a lollipop- and it drops to the ground as realization forms in her eyes. Anyone around them goes ignored, when they speak.

“Seto?”

“Sai? You- you remember me? As in- as in remember _before_?” He doesn’t clarify, she was always good at understanding. Smart enough to pick up on things he never did.

“Of course I do, how else would I know your name?” There’s a scoff, that follows. She rolls her eyes, but the smile she levels him with is warm. Understanding.

Seto could say he used to cry a lot. It wasn’t so difficult to find reasons to, in that world. When losing people. When things ended, even for the best. But he hasn’t recently. Happy enough in his life, that the only things that bring him to tears are memories.

Seto, now, rubs tears away from his face.

“Oh come on now, don’t cry.” Sais voice is calm, almost teasing. “We’re you always such a crybaby?”

“I’m- maybe?” His attempts to stop his tears only furthers them. “I thought it was_ just me.”_

Just him that remembered, _alone_. Just him that was back, alone. Alone again, but in a whole new way. A hand rests on his head, and slowly pulls him closer, into her arms. Sai holds him, lightly, like a child, and with an understanding nobody else he’s met in this life has ever had. Couldn’t have.

“I missed you. And everyone…”

“If we’re both here, maybe someone else is too.”

They fall into a routine, within the week. Meeting up after school, daily. Not necessary doing anything, but spending time in each others company. Those few hours a day a comfort that neither of them would be able to explain if asked.

One day, two weeks after they met, Sai starts talking, voice oddly serious despite the normality of her words. “So, I was at the store the other day.”

“Yeah?” Seto looks up, away from the school work in front of him. Across the cafe table between them, worried because of her tone.

“I saw Shin.”

The words, “which one,” come out before Seto can stop them. The joke falls flat, and Sai eyes him as if he’d admitted to murder. (Though, admittedly, he’d come close. Though nobody he’d fought had been alive, or human, at the time.)

“Wait- wait- you knew there was more than one?”

“I didn’t, originally,” Seto admits, frowning, biting his lip, and looking away. Then, he sighs, turning back to her. “I realized it, after getting everything _back_ this time.”

“Oh.”

The Shin that Seto had fought was an AI, but he was based on- was- a real person. A real person, who had grown old, and taken Seto in, raising him as Seto’s grandfather. He’s also fairly convinced that at least one cat he’d seen had been a reincarnation of the man, something he’s only more convinced of now that he knows for certain reincarnation exists.

“The original,” Sai says, finally. “He didn’t remember the ending-humanity thing, but did remember you, when I asked.”

“So is he old?”

“No.” Sai laughs, shaking her head. “He looks about the age his AI did.”

“Okay.” Seto nods, thinking about this. His grandfather- in everything except, he thinks, blood- was alive, again. Just like he, himself, is alive again. Out of habit- though a habit lost to time- he reaches to his chest. To where the locket would have been, if he still had it.

“Want to see him?”

“I don’t know.” Seto frowns down at his homework. It feels so inconsequential, in comparison to what he’d done, in his last life. But this is what a sixteen year old is meant to care about, he reminds himself. Even back then, when he was fifteen and his only family had died, he hadn’t been this serious, had he? So reflective, at every single thing.

“It’s okay if you don’t. You only knew him when he was old, right? It might be weird to see him, now, for you.” Sai’s emphasis on _Seto_’s feelings about it are odd, to Seto. Make him feel off-balance with the conversation. Did Shin want to see Seto? Even the AI had stopped _hating_ him, at the end, and his grandfather had been nothing but kind- if a bit blunt and secretive- in Seto’s memories of him.

“Does he want to see me?”

“Of course.”

“Oh.”

Seto meets Shin another week later. He does look like his AI, in age and face. The same, yet different, somehow. His hair has more colour- it’s still white, but not starkly, unsettlingly so- and his eyes hold a tiredness more familiar to Seto from time spent with his aging grandfather. Their conversation is awkward, stilted, but Seto feels lighter, somehow, after it. Like he’s gotten closure for something. Though Seto has no idea what he would need closure for.

A year passes without anything else related to his previous life appearing. Sai turns eighteen a week before Seto turns seventeen, and the two- plus Shin- celebrate these two things, together. Sai takes a moment, in the middle, to reflect on how little time there is before she’s surpassed her original lifespan. Seto doesn’t know what to say, what to do, when she mentions it, but Shin reacts. Tells her she deserves this; the chance to be a young woman, and live beyond that, instead of what happened to her, before.

“Right…” Sai’s voice trails off, she shakes her head, and when she speaks again her tone is light. “Well, technically I lived a lot beyond dying.”

“A lot? How long was it before we met?” Seto’s question isn’t one he expects her to answer, but Sai laughs. Rests her head on her hand- elbow on the table where their food sits- and grins at Seto.

“You’d be surprised. A number of years?”

“Gross.”

“Gross?!”

“I just remembered… I touched your corpse.”

“And you didn’t even bury me.”

“Sorry?”

“I’m kidding, Seto.”

“Oh.”

There’s a woman who works at the restaurant just across the street from where Seto lives. Something about her is vaguely familiar, but Seto can’t for the life of him figure out what, so he’s never brought it up. Never spoken to her. Then, a month after his birthday, Seto’s parents ask him to go pick up an order from the place. They don’t often ask a lot of him- aside from that he does passingly in school- so Seto agrees without any fuss. Heads over, and waits at the counter while another employee heads to get the order. Tries to subtly look at the woman, to figure out why she’s familiar, and fails when she turns around and he turns to look away far too quickly.

“You okay, kid?” Her voice, too, is familiar. Yet wrong, somehow. Like it’s got all the makings of a voice that’s familiar, but it’s lost something small.

“Y-yes?” The words aren’t meant to come out like a question, and Seto presses his lips into a thin line, trying not to express anything.

“Have we met?” Her words shock him enough he turns to her, fully. Stares, open-mouthed, for a moment, before clamping his jaw closed and shaking his head.

He only stops this long enough to mutter a, “probably not.”

“You… got my ring back.” Her words are simple, but hesitant. Seto stares, now wide-eyed, and properly takes in her features. Her round face, gray eyes, the look of surprise on her face, as she seems to come to the same conclusion Seto has.

“Chiyo?”

“Yes.” She’s older than her projected form, but much younger than the woman laying in the room was. And, she’s standing. Seto vaguely remembers the memories- attached, clinging to photo pieces- that he later realized must have been hers. She smiles, when Seto finally meets her eyes. “You’re older, this time.”

“You’re younger. Or- um- older, too?” She laughs at his words, small but noticeable.

“I am.” She slowly raises on of her hands. Her left, where a ring- a different one, unsurprisingly- sits on her ring finger. “Do you remember when I mentioned the ring you brought me was from someone else?”

“Of course.”

“I met him again. He doesn’t seem to remember…” She shakes her head, looks down at the ring with a smaller, but no less genuine, smile. “But this time thing worked out, better.”

“I’m glad.”

She laughs again, nodding. “Thank you.”

Their conversation is interrupted by the return of other employee, with Seto’s food. “Oh, thank you.” Seto takes it, signing for it, since his parents must have already paid, and turns to leave, waving to Chiyo.

“Bye, kid,” She says, just as Seto reaches the door.

“Seto!” He turns, smiling. “I realized I never told you, did I?”

“No, you didn’t. Bye, Seto.”

Seto tells Sai about this, two days later when the school week begin. Sai nods along with what he’s saying, before finally saying, “you’re just a magnet for reincarnated people who remember, aren’t you?”

“But... you were the one who met Shin.”

“Fine we both are.” Sai rolls her eyes. “Too bad we can’t make a business out of this.”

“We could if we tried hard enough.”

“Don’t sound so genuine about that, it was a joke.”

“I- I know? I was joking too…”

Sai laughs at that, patting him on the head despite his frown. “Wow, kid.”

“I’m a year younger than you.”

“But I have way more years of memory on you.”

“You don’t know that. I could have lived a long time after you… disappeared.”

“Did you?”

Did he? Seto tilts his head while he considers this. The answer is a resounding: no. He lived a number of years, was an adult when he died, but considering her and Shin’s ages when they met, and how old his grandfather was when he passed, she probably had a good number of years on him.

“Thought so,” Sai says, breaking Seto’s train of thoughts.

“Still…”

“You’ve changed, you know?” Sai says, far more seriously than a continuation to the conversation warrants.

“How so?”

“I don’t know. You’re not the same oblivious, kinda-dumb, but well-meaning kid you were when we met.”

“Well… I did grow up, and die, and am growing up again.” Seto looks away from her, to the sky above them, where they sit on the school roof. Bellow, the sounds of a students making conversation over their lunch breaks, or running from one building to another, are barely able to reach them. “You have too.”

“Changed?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess so.”

Seto wonders, silently, if Shin had changed too. If Chiyo has. If Ren were here, would she have changed, too? Were PF, or Crow were- if they even could be- would they have changed, too?

“Well you’re still kind of dumb, actually,” Sai says, finally. Breaks their silence and laughs when Seto gasps, offended.

“I am not!”

Would Ren have changed, too? Well, Seto guesses, he can find out. Ren looks the same. Too much so; she’s definitely younger than Seto, this time around. The loosely-enforced uniform of their school fits too big on her, but it’s a vast improvement from the last time he saw her, hundreds of years ago. She’s speaking to another student. Her expression shows a genuine happiness, and she’s relaxed. Something she would never have been, around a group of people, when Seto originally met her.

Though, maybe, that meant her life had been kinder, this time. Seto hesitates to speak to her, to walk over to her. What if she- like Chiyo’s spouse- didn’t remember her past life, unlike the rest of them?

Then, one of her friends puts a hand on her arm, motioning Ren to look in Seto’s direction, while saying something. Seto knows he’s been staring, and tries to look _less_ like that’s the case, to little avail. Ren eyes him, frowning, suspicious, before taking small, hesitant, steps in his direction. For a moment, Seto considers running.

It’s too late, by the time he fully considers doing so, as Ren has reached him.

“Um-” She shakes her head, shakes away her failed sentence- “you need something?”

“Huh?” Seto shakes his head. “No, no- uh- you looked familiar, is all.”

“Familiar?”

“Yeah.” Seto nods, this time, avoiding her eyes. Once upon a time, he’d desperately wanted to find her, to have the first person he’d met beside his grandfather, at his side. Had said that even if they didn’t like each other, as long as someone- as long as she- was there to hear his words, they had meaning.

Now she looks at him as if he’s a stranger, again, yet he doesn’t know if he would try to change that, given the chance.

“Is your name… Seto?”

“Um- yes?”

“I’m Ren.” She holds out a hand, which he shakes after a slightly too long pause. It feels awkward, when he pulls his hand back. Odd. She pushes a strand of silver hair- it’s longer, now- behind her ear, and smiles. “Nice to meet you again, Seto.”

“Again,” Seto repeats the word, blinking at her.

“I don’t… remember a lot,” Ren says, glancing away from Seto. “But we met back then_ right?”_

“Yeah…” 

“You can fill me in, then, sometime.” Ren smiles, bright and far removed from anything Seto had seen on her face, before they’d stopped Shin. Hardly nearing anything he’d seen, even after that. 

“Okay.” 

And that must be how Ren had changed, too. 

Sai is learning the guitar. Seto learns this when she says, after school, that she needs to speak to the music teacher, before they leave. Seto- and Ren, who’s decided to join them for the day- follow her there, rather than waiting outside of the school. 

“Oh, Sai.” Their music teacher- a woman with short, straight, black hair and sharp, starkly gray, eyes- greets Sai. Their discussion continues, while Seto feels a heaviness in his chest. He’s never met the woman, being that he isn’t in any music classes, and thus has had no reason to meet her. Yet, now, he wishes he had. Her voice- only that- is so, _so_ familiar. 

“Ms. Satou,” Sai greets, oblivious to Seto’s internal crisis. “I had a question-” 

“Seto?” Ren asks, quietly enough not to draw the other two’s attention. “Are you okay?” 

“I-” 

Ren was the first person Seto had met, outside of his grandfather, but they hadn’t been able to actually spend a lot of time alongside each other, before things were cut short. Sai was his longest running companion, the one who told him what had happened, but she had been dead before he’d met her. He’d barely spoken to Chiyo. Crow was his best, first real, friend, but… 

But PF had been- not quite his friend, but a companion, someone he cared about. A figure more like a mentor, or a caretaker, or a parent, than a “friend.” (Though looking back he might have labeled her as a friend, given a chance to do so.) 

And that’s her voice. Clearer, less stilted, yet the same. A way it had only ever sounded, right at the end. The tall, soft-faced woman speaking to Sai has her voice. Seto can’t respond to Ren, because he isn’t sure if he’s okay, or not. And, when Sai rejoins Seto and Ren, saying they can go, Seto meets the teachers eyes, hoping. 

“PF- I mean-” 

“Seto?” Her voice is warm, kind, worried. Seto can’t figure out why, at first, but then he can feel his own tears, trailing down his face. He hadn’t cried meeting Chiyo, or Shin, or even Ren, who he had once wanted to much to know. But his first companion, now human, now alive again, not losing life because of a battery and Seto’s inability to understand how to fix that even if he’d had the means to, she’s here.. 

“You- you-” _Those who are dead, will only continue to stay dead._ Seto had said, once, while reflecting on people lost. On PF, specifically. “_Thank you_.” 

“Me?” The confused tilt to her voice is punctuated with a smile. 

“You thanked me, but I never- but you were already-” 

“It’s okay.” 

_No matter how badly I want to see you again, that can never be,_ Seto had thought, once. He rubs at his eyes, pointlessly, knowing it wont help. “Now I’m the one who doesn’t know your name.” 

And she smiles, puts a hand on his shoulder. At Seto’s side, Ren and Sai share equally confused looks, as neither of them had met PF. Only able to understand that she was someone Seto had known, before. 

“Ayako.” PF- Ayako- says, patting Seto’s arm. “I’m glad to have met you, again, Seto.” 

“Yeah,” is the most Seto can manage to say, though his tears. 

It would be strange, for a teacher to spend a lot of time with her students, outside of school. Thus, Seto, Sai, and Ren all start spending a few days a week in the music room, when it’s otherwise empty. Talking to Ayako- Ms. Satou, as Seto is supposed to call her. Mom as he has resisted calling her far too many times. PF has he’s resisted calling her even more often. 

At one point, their discussion goes the the old world. The one before Seto and Ren’s time, the first time. Seto’s simple, “is the world actually the same as it was before,” gets a shrug from Sai. 

“I don’t remember much from before I was a teenager, and by then…” 

“Oh.” Seto nods, not needing her to elaborate. Ayako, on the other hand, waits until she has their attention, then answers. Talks at length specifically about school, and how it’s similar, yet distinct, from what school would have been like for them, at the time. How much more lax needless regulations are, now, with so much more relevant to worry about. Seto listens, mind briefly wandering to how familiar it is to listen to her explain things to him. How nice it is to do so again. 

PF being reborn and ending up a teacher makes a lot of sense, in moments like this. She always liked talking, explaining things, and now she had every chance to do so. Part of that, Seto doesn’t doubt, had been her programming, at the time, but she is a human person, now, with the free ability to feel that honestly. To want to talk, to tell stories and information, honestly. 

The new personal frames, that are being produced now, aren’t like that. Have little to no personality whatsoever. Aren’t her. That had always unsettled him, when he heard about them. (Yet, still, they’re the most human-like technology that remains from the world Seto knew. Fears developing and continuing from when the androids and other advanced machines were possessed by the malice settled in the world, and AI Shin’s imparted will, making to kill what little remained of life. Seto doesn’t think that’s entirely fair- his best friend was a non-possessed android, after all- but it isn’t like he can do anything to change that. )

“Hey,” Sai starts, her tone already betraying future teasing. “How come you didn’t cry when you saw Ren?” 

“What?” 

“I get Shin, because he’s not really familiar as he is now, but neither is Ms. Satou.” 

“Hey- that’s-” 

Ren laughs, besides Seto. “It’s okay, I get it.” 

“You do?” 

“Sure.” 

Seto nods, at her dismissive words. Ren doesn’t remember enough to be horribly bothered by it, probably. There is a reason, though. Sai had been proof Seto wasn’t alone, the only one who knew, so of course that had overwhelmed him with emotion. And PF- Ayako- was something like a caretaker, during their time together, despite how briefly they knew each other. (Despite the fact Seto only told her his name, just as she died.) Shin wasn’t really familiar, even though he logically knows the other is his grandfather reincarnated, and Ren… 

She was the only one he’d had proper amounts of time to mourn. He didn’t have some goal or task to push him forward, when she passed. No one specifically to find. No specific place to go. Just the vague idea of finding _others,_ but that could wait, he’d figured. 

In the end he’d never found anyone else, anyway, and his loneliness gave place for him to accept Ren exiting his life after all that he’d done to meet her to begin with. For the most part, however, he’d pushed aside mourning the others. Had only thought of them in brief, specific moments, so he didn’t have to think of anything else. 

“I have to say,” Ayako starts, drawing Seto out of his thoughts, “it is nice to finally meet the silver-haired girl.” 

“Oh, right, he didn’t know my name at first, right?” Ren sounds more unsure than most of them would have, about that. So Seto nods, offers a smile to try and confirm that she’s correct. 

“You probably didn’t know his, either. Right Seto?” Sai asks, getting another nod from Seto. 

“But I don’t think she was thinking about it, until the second time we met.” 

“Hey, Seto?” Ren starts, one day. After school, at the end of the week. Sai is off to meet with Shin, apparently, leaving the two to walk home together. 

“Yeah?” 

“Want to come with me to the animal shelter, tomorrow?” 

“The animal shelter?” Seto turns to face her, as they walk. She nods, smiling lightly. 

“Mhm. I volunteer there, sometimes.” 

Seto’s immediate response is agreement, but he stops himself. Reminds himself that it’s a terrible idea. “I’m- uh- actually kind of… scared of dogs?” 

“Dogs?” 

“And birds.” 

“Why’s that?” It’s moments like this that remind Seto how little Ren remembers. Just vague notions of people she knew, and that she existed when the world was empty. She doesn’t remember being locked up- though she remembers that she was- or glass cage, or most of the events of her life from before. 

And it’s probably for the best. Things were terrible, back then, especially for her. Seto is glad to not be the only one who remembers, of course, but Ren deserves to be happy, and those memories probably wouldn’t help her be. She wasn’t like Chiyo who’s knowledge of _before_ helped her makes better choices this time. (Or so she told Seto, the second time they’d talked. Said how knowing how things turned out the first time made her be more honest about her feelings for her husband, Mao, this time.) Nor Sai or Shin or Ayako, who’s memories hold distinctly different, happier, times somewhere in them. 

Finally, Seto responds. “Dogs and birds were- well- they became pretty scary, before.” 

“I see…” 

Dogs, especially, scare Seto. Birds less so, if just for the fact he saw less of them, though crows and ravens still unsettle him, particularly. (Something that bothers him, since they also make him think of Crow.) There weren’t many other animals that he felt that way about, and none he saw regularly. Moles- when he’d seen them in books- terrified him, and large enough- hairy enough- spiders made him think of the giant, part-spider part-something-else monsters from the sewers. 

“You still like cats?” Ren asks, quietly. 

“Of course.” Seto offers her a smile. 

“Then you should come by! I’ll keep you away from the dog section of the shelter.” 

“Okay,” Seto agrees, and Ren smiles. 

“I’ll send you the address, when I get home. Meet you there tomorrow?” 

“Sure.” 

“Hm, you know what?” 

“What?” 

“You’ve nearly met everyone you knew, back then, huh?” 

“Oh- uh- almost.” Seto nods. Watches Ren’s expression turn distant, and allows her the peace of whatever thought she’s having. It was true, after all. Seto can only think of two people he knew, that he has yet to see. The merchant, who he wasn’t certain he’d recognize even if he had. (The man was always wearing that mask, was likely not human, and Seto didn’t know much about him to start with. Wonders if, were the merchant also reincarnated and around, he’d even realize he’d met Seto before.) And, of course, Crow. He realizes now, with more knowledge of friendship and relationships and the world they existed both before and after, that the action that made them, “best friends,” wasn’t actually normal for the title. 

Though he’s not particularly bothered by that. 

“Is it… okay that I don’t remember?” Ren asks, finally. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I’m… not really the person you knew, right? I know I was, and that you knew me, but…” 

“You’re Ren,” Seto says simply. “I wanted to know you, before I really did, back then. You don’t have to be the same person, you’re whoever you are, now.” 

Ren hums, as if considering this. “Thank you, Seto.”

Seto is sitting in his bedroom, reading a book from the old world. One his parents, apparently, had passed on to them from his mothers parents. It’s a romance, and tells him more about how people of the time communicated. The technology isn’t described specifically, but if words like “sleek” could be applied to phones, it must have been quite different from the blockly, heavy, form of phones currently. (Honestly the idea of it being light unsettles him. The heavy feeling in his hand reminds him that it’s real. That he’s real, and not some dream his older self, in the old world, is having. Which he knows is illogical, anyway, because he never dreamt then, and only ever dreams in memories, now. (A result, he thinks, of Glass Cage’s remaining effects.) 

The book, itself, holds a memory. It’s vague, faint, but Seto can tell its there. Memories in items are less and less common, he’s found. Most people don’t seem to realize it’s possible, at all. Seto can only assume the lack of spirits, nowadays- fading as humanity returned to filling spaces, rather than being confined to one or two people within miles- seems to have taken other supernatural phenomenon with it. 

Still, the memory is there. Fuzzy, hard to reach, but there. Seto closes his eyes, for a moment, before getting up to turn his room’s lights off, and turn only his desk lamp on. Ignores the chime of his phone in favour of holding the book to his chest, closing his eyes, and listening for the voice of someone long gone. 

Sometimes Seto wonders if anything of his was left imparted with a memory. If his words, his fears or his happiness, had been left for someone else to hear. 

What would it have been, if it had?

True to her word, Ren leads him straight into the place they keep cats, avoiding where the dogs are being held entirely. Seto spends a portion of the day, alongside Ren, feeding and brushing the cats that are already friendly, and trying to calmly gain the trust of those that aren’t. When they leave, Ren calls Sai to ask if she wants to get lunch, with them, and Seto idly looks around them while he waits for that conversation to happen. 

There aren’t any cars, on the street. All the remains of them have been cleared away, and nobody has taken to producing them again, so they remain in history books, for now. There are, however, a few people passing by on bikes. More people walk down the sidewalk or roads, and Seto people-watches while he can hear Ren’s conversation next to him. 

One person walking past catches Seto’s attention. His first thought his how _loud_ their outfit is. Something that he wouldn’t have been surprised to see in the world he originally grew up in, but is strange now. Too many layers, unevenly placed, and a mixture of different patterns. The puffy, baby-chicken patterned pants are particularly attentions grabbing. 

If by chance, or because they felt Seto’s eyes on them, the figure turns, meeting Seto’s eyes. Startled, and embarrassed at having been staring, Seto quickly turns away. A vague feeling of panic settling in his chest for one second, then two, before disappearing as quickly as it came. Ren gives him an odd, confused, look as she puts her phone away. 

“Sai said she and Shin will meet us there.” Ren’s voice is quiet, tone more familiar to Seto than her usual speech has been since re-meeting her. Hesitant in a way Seto could never quite identify the source of. 

“You okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Ren nods, then shakes her head. “My only memory of Shin… was the AI one.” 

“Oh.” Seto nods, then. “We could cancel showing up? Say something happened, if you want?” 

“No it’s okay. I know this Shin and that one weren’t the same. Sai explained it to me, and… and even the AI was less- well- evil? At the end. I remember bits and pieces.” 

Hearing Ren talk so much still surprises Seto, even after know her so long. “Okay.” 

_You’ve nearly met everyone you knew, back then_, Ren had said, just the day before. Seto stops, falling behind Ren as she walks in the direction of their destination. Seto turns, looks back the the figure across the street. They’re looking into the window of a store, now, hand on their chin in what appears to be consideration. 

“Could they be…” Seto shakes his head, turning to follow after Ren. She faces him, when he falls into step next to her, expression of confusion on her face. Seto shakes his head, dismissing it. 

Were it the merchant- also reincarnated like the rest of them- would he even realize he’d met Seto before?

A week later Seto runs into the person, again. This time face-to-face, without a street between them. They grin, smile crooked, and speak simply. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen that face!” And the voice is distinctly familiar. Both relieving and unsettling at the same time. Seto is fairly sure his face now isn’t the one he’d had before. That the merchant hadn’t looked like this, under the mask. 

He’s younger, too. Far too young for Seto to have recognized him, even if the face was generally the same. He can’t be older than Ren, let alone Seto or the others. Then, Seto thinks, the personality he remembers from back then somehow fits this younger person. 

“Uh, yeah.” 

“Unfortunately I’m not selling anything anymore!” 

“Um- well- fortunately… I’m not fighting for my life, anymore.” 

“Well that’s good!” 

“Y-yeah…”

A month passes. Seto tries not to, but he feels disappointed, the more time passes. Knows that isn’t logical. It was a whole year between meeting Sai and meeting Ren. He’s lucky to have seen as many people as he had. He’s lucky to not be _alone_ in remembering. 

But if everyone else is here, why isn’t Crow? 

Seto sits at his desk, in class, arms crossed on it, leaning forward on it. Just barely not laying his head on the desk or his arms, Seto stares at the front of the room, but hears and processes nothing. 

Seto is only brought back into awareness when a hand slams onto his desk. Sai laughs when Seto jumps, shaking her head. “Jeeze, you sure were out of it, huh?” 

“Sorry,” Seto says, standing. “Is it lunch already?” 

“Yep. Come on the _silver haired girl_ is waiting.” 

“Do you have to keep teasing me about that?” 

“Yes.” 

Seto rolls his eyes, following Sai out of the classroom. 

“Hey- but- seriously, are you okay? You’ve been spacing out a lot.” 

“I’m okay,” Seto says. It might be a lie, partially, but it’s nothing Sai should worry about. Or anyone, for that matter. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Huh?” Seto blinks at her, surprised. 

“Come on kid, you don’t really think that was convincing.” 

“Oh- uh- sorry.” 

“So?” 

“I think I’ve met all but one person from back then.” 

“Oh.” Sai nods, then, expression turning sympathetic. She must know who he’s referencing. She was there, when Seto saw Crow’s last moments. Heard Seto’s insistence that Crow had _died_, not just shut down. Because he was alive, despite the eternal, false youth of his robotic body. 

“I just… can’t help but wonder if he’s there, too. Somewhere alive, thinking it’s just him, like I had.” 

“I’m sure if he is, you’ll meet him.” Sai’s voice hold a surprising genuineness. Something she rarely let him hear, back when she was a ghost. Something distinctly different from words purely of comfort. “You are a magnet for reincarnated people, after all.” 

The return of her joking tone makes Seto laugh, nod. “Thanks, Sai.”

Two years have passed, since Seto met Sai. He attends her graduation, and she promises she’ll still see him regularly. She isn’t leaving, just yet. Has taken a job, but one that leaves her with enough time for friends. Ren promises Seto that they can team up to make sure Sai keeps that promise, when Seto’s worry shows through. 

A month after this, Seto, Ren, Sai, Shin, and Ayako meet up in the park near where Sai- and Shin, apparently- works. It’s less weird, for Ayako to be present, with Shin- also an adult and never one of her students- around. They spend hours, talking about simultaneously everything and absolutely nothing. 

The sun starts setting, as Seto makes his way home. He’s only near the exit of the park, when it becomes what he was call _after dark_, but the time of day is still early enough he wont be in any trouble with his parents. Not that he necessarily needs to worry about that, now that he’s technically an adult. (He doesn’t feel like one, and even Sai, out of school, doesn't seem like much of one either.) 

He’s only a few feet from the park entrance when he hears it. Laughter. _Fearless, mean, and yet kind._ Seto stops in place, unable to make himself move one way or another. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and that’s all it takes to conjure up a face in his mind. _Clear, and forever young_. Seto opens his eyes, hears another echoing of the laughter, and looks up at the sky. Dark, but he can still make out the shapes of clouds. 

All at once, Seto is moving again. Spins on his heels, running back into the park and looking around sharply. There’s a dog there, collar attached to a leash that’s held in the hand of the person under it. It licks at the face of the laughter’s voice, and all at once Seto doesn’t care about his feelings for dogs. Runs over with no care given to the part of his mind that’s scared. The dog, startled by his approach, jumps back. Behind it’s presumably-owner, instead of in front of him. 

_He _looks up at Seto, but only has a second before Seto has thrown himself to the ground. Arms wrap around his shoulders. If he dosen’t remember Seto, then Seto can make excuses, or something. He doesn’t care. 

His best friend is right here. In front of him, and so very much alive. 

“Crow!” Seto tightens his grip, feels tears in his eyes. “You’re alive. You’re _here_.” 

“Come on, don’t cry now.” The words are far too familiar. Seto almost laughs, but it turns into a shaky breath, instead. “I can do that now, too, you know? If you keep this up, I might…” 

“You said you were jealous.” 

“Hm?” 

“That I was able to cry.” Seto pulls back, so he can properly look at Crow’s face. It’s the same, somehow. Seto wonders if Crow is any older, or younger, than his appearance would have said he was, the first time. If his face is able to change, now. It must be. Seto can feel the human warmth from Crow, so far removed from the cold- yet somehow too hot- metal that he was made of before. “So- so if you can- if you can, now, go ahead.” 

Crow laughs at that, shakes his head, but there are tears in his eyes. Threatening to overflow the way Seto’s already are. “Hey, come on, that’s enough.” Crow shakes his head, then slowly circles his arms around Seto. “I wasn’t able to do this, by the time you found me, then.” 

“I missed you.” 

“Me too. You’re my best friend, after all.” 

They sit there, silent, for a moment. A moment that’s broken by a bark. Seto jumps, fear finally hitting him, and he uses Crow to shield his vision, hiding the dog to some extent. 

“Seto?” 

“I- uh- dogs scare me.” Seto almost expects Crow to laugh. Thinks he might have, before, but Crow just offers Seto a smile, and stands. He gives Seto one of his hands, to pull Seto back to his feet, then takes a few steps back. Pulls the dog away with him. 

“It’s a good thing she’s not mine then, huh?” 

“She isn’t?” 

“Nope!” Crow grins, familiar, honest. “My neighbors. I’m just watching her for a few days.” 

“I see.” 

“Next time, it’ll just be me,” Crow promises. Seto nods, shifting weight from one foot to another. 

They trade information, numbers, addresses and such, before parting ways. Seto rubs tear stains from his cheeks, as he makes his way home. Hopes his eyes aren’t too red. 

Crow is here, alive, and remembering. 

The world ended, once. Hundreds of years ago, with a failed experiment, and sleeping becoming the death of people. Seto lived in that ruined world, once, in a different life. Traveled through the ruins of the world in search of connections. People. This time, he’s a mostly normal kid. Except he remembers. He remembers, and so do the people he knew, once, in a life long since gone. 

“Hey,” Crow says, drawing Seto’s attention out of his thoughts. Seto stands near the park, having been waiting for Crow. He looks up, meets the other’s eyes. “Want to know what I found?” 

“What did you find?” 

“This.” Crow holds up a- no _the-_ locket. The one Seto got from his grandfather. The one Crow had once stolen, then returned. The one Seto used to keep small things- things that would fit- that reminded him of the people he knew. A letter and a stone, PF’s screw, Crow’s ring. Seto stares, eyes unblinking, until Crow lowers his hand. 

“How-” 

“Pretty amazing, right?” Crow grins, pride evident, and Seto can’t help but smile. Nods, and laughs when Crow looks surprised that Seto didn’t say anything in return. (Was he expecting verbal agreement, or an argument?) “And it looks like everything was still inside.” 

Crow grabs one of Seto’s hands. Turns it over so he can place the locket in it, then closes Seto’s hand around it. “You’re giving it back to me?” 

“Yeah, obviously.” Crow rolls his eyes. “It’s yours.” 

Seto almost comments on how that hadn’t mattered to Crow, the first time, but shakes the thought away. Closes his other hand around the one holding it, and feels, vaguely, that there’s a memory attached to it. “Thank you, Crow.” 

While commonly the memories Seto finds items attached to, are the last ones of a person, his locket isn’t that. Nor is each object inside- holding more, distinct memories. His voice is older, rougher, but not nearing the end of it’s time. It echos in his mind, the memories hitting him one after another as he sits in the darkness of his room. Seto knows that, somewhere in his mind, this was after Ren, but before his own death. 

_ “I was fifteen at the end of that summer…”_

_ “Even now, I remember it like it was just yesterday…”_

_ “I had a dream that a familiar voice was calling me. As I walked along, it spoke to me. Sometimes worried. Sometimes happy…”_

_ “The little time we spent together shone brilliantly, like a light in those darkened day of the past…”_

_ “At this very moment, there are innumerable people just like me all over the world. Yet the tiniest act of sharing a secret could easily make two of us friends…”_

_ “I’ve never revealed your secret to anybody. And I never will…”_

_ “During the many years of life, we feel anger, bitterness, and fear. And yet, even when betrayed, part of us wants to trust again…”_

_ “I will believe in them. And I believe, that they will make the choice to believe in me, too.”_

_ “When I’m staring into the darkness, I find myself somehow entranced by it.”_

_ “The days we spent together are long gone, drifting away like clouds in the breeze. Even though memories are often fleeting, all I need to do is close my eyes and your face appears…”_

_ “And then… then we traveled together.”_

It’s strange, but though Seto remembers being the person who felt these things, who said these things, he didn’t remember how he _felt_ until he’s heard them, again. How alone he’d felt, both at the beginning, and the end. How much pain, hurt, and acceptance there was, for what happened to his friends. 

How little he feels like that, now.

If he’s honest, Seto knows what he felt didn’t quite line up with what the title was meant to express. “Best Friends.” Crow hadn’t really understood his actions at the time, and Seto hadn’t really known the difference, either, so that made sense. Fit with what they knew of their situation. They were best friends, because they shared something Seto hadn’t with anyone else. It isn’t that they _aren’t_ best friends, now. They are. Seto knows they are. But there’s something else he realizes he feels, now that he has reference for that kind of feeling.

Sai is his friend. PF- Ayako- is his friend. Ren is his friend. Crow is his best friend, but… 

“Sai, can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.” 

“Did you and the original Shin, have some kind of relationship?” 

“Oh.” Sai pauses, seeming to debate with herself the answer. “No. Don’t you remember? He had no idea how I felt.” 

“Oh, right.” 

“We might have, if things were different, and we had more time. Or, you know, we hadn’t met when we had.” 

“Things are different.” 

“I guess so.” Sai shrugs. “Why are you asking?” 

“Oh- um-” 

“Maybe it has something to do with Ren? Or-” she draws the word out, teasing- “Crow?” 

“What?!” Seto responds, far too quickly, far too loudly. “I mean- um- I was just curious!” 

“Wow, kid. You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” 

Seto frowns, staying silent. Sai laughs, and reaches over to mess up his hair. Finally, sighing, Seto speaks. “In the old world, I didn’t have any reference for that kind of thing.” 

“Mhm.” 

“And- um- I may have confused something…for something else?” 

“Seto.” Sai breaths a small sigh, before patting his head. “It’s okay to just say it.” 

“Well it’s not quite-” Seto shakes his head, trying to properly explain himself- “I wasn’t _wrong_, I was just… missing something.” 

Sai hums, acknowledging this. “Okay, well, now that you _do_ know, you know what?” 

“Huh?” 

“Things can be different. You can at least be honest with yourself.” 

“When did you get so wise?” 

“Hey, brat, I was always wise.” 

“Oh? Will you take your own advice?” 

“Nah. I’m fine like this.” Sai shakes her head. “I just wanted to be in his life, and I am. That’s enough.” 

“Sai…” 

“Seriously. At least it is for now.” 

Three words. He remembers Sai and the AI Shin talking about it, at the end. Remembers Sai saying that some things need to be put into words, to be understood. _I love you_. 

Once, hundreds of years ago, but only a few decades ago, Seto had held those words close to his heart, a thought for Ren that felt incomplete, somehow, and was never shared in those words. _Thank you_, he said instead, _for being here with me_. Once at the beginning of their journey together, and once at the end, when _thank you_ meant _I love you_. 

But… 

But that love is something different, now. Seto can feel that fully, honestly, he loves Ren in the same way he now loves Sai, Ayako, even Chiyo and Shin. Something like the way he loves his parents, like he loved his grandfather, but not quite. 

In that way, the opposite is true of Crow. The love he _thought_ he felt, back then, was the love he feels for the others, now. The love he feels for Crow now- the one he always has, but couldn’t recognize- is something else. 

Something like what Sai must have felt, back then, for Shin. 

_“I just wanted to be near you. I needed to be a part of your life.”_ Sai had said. “_I love you_.” 

If Seto put what he felt for Crow into words, they might just mirror Sai’s. _I wanted to stay with you_, Seto thinks, _I wanted you to stay with me. I wanted to be a part of your life. I wanted you to be a part of mine._

_I wanted to travel with you, too_.

“Crow?” 

“Mhm?” Crow hums, from where he sits. Leaned against a tree, in the park, beside Seto. “What’s up?” 

“Did you hear the memories?” 

“Huh?” 

“In my locket.” _My_, he says now. Not his grandfathers. When had that changed? 

“Oh, no.” Crow shakes his head, mess of hair becoming worse at the action. “Never thought about it. Guess I figured they weren’t mine to hear.” 

“We’ve shared more secrets than anything in those memories.” Seto puts a hand to his chest, the locket hangs there, now. Brought with him specifically because he was going to ask. He keeps it in his room, normally. No chance of someone stealing it, that way. “They’re still there. And-” 

“And?” Crow asks, after too many moments of silence. Always so little patience. 

“And I want you to hear at least this one.” Seto moves to pull the locket over his head, but is stopped by Crows hands. Crow leans towards Seto, away from the tree, hands grabbing Seto’s, holding them in place. “Crow?” 

“If you want to share secrets with me, you gotta tell me yourself.” 

“But-” 

“You aren’t him, anymore.” Crow leans away, again, shrugging. Dismissive though his expression stays serious. _You aren’t him, anymore_. Seto turns the words over in his head, then, finally, speaks. 

“Okay. They are still my words, though.” _My feelings_. “So I’ll just… say them with my own voice. _The days we spent together are long gone,” _the words sound different, his voice younger, now “_drifting away like clouds in the breeze. Even though memories are often fleeting, all I need-_ needed-_ to do is close my eyes, and your face appears-_ appeared.” 

“Seto?” 

“If- if there was anyone I remembered. Any face ingrained in my memories, it’s yours,” Seto says, honestly. 

“Well,” Crow starts, leaning his weight on his hands, and looking away from Seto. “I can’t say it’s quite the same, for me. Yours was the only face I really spent any time with, and I couldn’t see it by the end.” 

“Right…” 

“But, well,” Crow turns, again, lifting his hands to cup Seto’s face. “Your face is the first thing I remembered, from before. You’re my best friend, after all.” 

“Yeah.” Seto gives a smile. Small, lacking, but genuine none the less. 

“Oh, man, what’s wrong Seto?” 

“Nothing’s _wrong_.” Seto shakes his head, and Crow releases his face. “I wish I could have traveled with you. We should have gone, together. We both ended up there, anyway.” 

“But where’s the fun in that? We had so much new stuff to share when we met again.” 

_But we didn’t get the chance to_. Crow must know what Seto’s thinking, or feel the same about it, because his voice was lacking it’s usual enthusiasm. Seto sighs. “We could have shared those experiences.” 

“Yeah.” 

“I wanted you to stay with me.” Seto raises a hand to grip Crow’s arm. Eyes rest on the ground, unwilling to meet Crow’s. “I wanted to travel with you. I wanted to be with you. You’re my best friend.” 

“We’re together now.” Genuine, simple, honest. Softer than Crow’s voice usually is. “I’m with you, now.” 

“Crow I-” Seto meets his eyes- “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” A simple response for a simple, yet complicated, statement. 

“Crow, I’m _in love_ with you.” 

“Oh.” Crow laughs, closing his eyes. His laughter isn’t cruel, and his forehead comes to rest against Seto’s. “Well, I am pretty amazing. It’s no wonder…” 

“Crow?” 

“I already told you. I love you too.” Crow grins, opening his eyes to meet Seto’s. “_Thank you, for everything…Seto.”_

Seto flinches, involuntarily- at the tone, at the words- but nods, Crow’s head moving with his. “Thank you, for being my friend, Crow.” 

“Well, jeeze, Seto. I kind of figured,” Crow pauses, teasing, “that I was _also_ something else.” 

Also, he says. Seto laughs. “_Now_, maybe.” 

“Maybe.” 

“If you want.” 

Crow rolls his eyes, pulling away from Seto. “Well, obviously! Hey, Seto?” 

“Yeah, Crow?” 

“In this life, have you kissed anyone?” 

“Oh my god!” 

“Hey! This is serious. As your _best friend_, I should be your first again.” 

“Stop!” Crow laughs, and Seto covers his face. “I haven’t, okay?” 

“Okay.” Crows laughter is lighter, but no less familiar. 

“Have _you?_” 

“Um.” 

“Ha.” Seto lowers his hand, to look at Crow. “What, are you suddenly embarrassed? You? Crow? The one who decided we were _best friends_.” 

“Okay! Okay! Man, you were so much easier to mess with before.” 

“I was a baby.” 

“You were fifteen?” 

“Baby.” 

“You’re only eighteen, now.” 

“Technically I’m- uh- something like forty-six?” 

“Old man.” 

“How old are _you_?!” 

“I don’t know.” Crow shrugs. “But I didn’t age, so it doesn’t count.” 

“That’s not fair.” Seto sighs, and Crow laughs at him again. “You’re human, so it counts.” 

“I wasn’t.” 

“_You were_.” 

“Seto. _Nothing about me was human_.” The, “Was,” doesn’t make it hurt any less to hear again. 

“Crow.” Seto places his hands on Crow’s shoulders, realizing too late how familiar the motion is. “Your emotions are too human to say that _none_ of you is.” 

“Thank you, Seto.” 

Not knowing what else to say, Seto says, “Thank you, Crow.” 

The world ended, once. Hundreds of years ago, a failed experiement made sleep a death, for many. Society collapsed, only a small number of people surviving. Only a small number of human people surviving. Robots and androids fell apart with time, too, without batteries or maintenance. Seto was there, after the collapse, after most others died. Lived though it, and remembers even now that he’s been reborn.

Society has been rebuilt. Pieced back together on information left behind. Seto lives in a world so distantly removed from the one he remembers, now, that it’s still disorienting, even now. Even after eighteen years. 

But some things remain, or return. People. Faces, names, voices, memories. Seto remembers, and he knows how he felt, but those feelings aren’t something that remains. Not quite. Similar feelings have formed, but they aren’t his past selves feelings. 

He isn’t his past self, anymore. New memories, new experiences, have changed him. Made him able to take those memories, those feelings, that _loneliness_, and use it to drive him now. 

Seto seeks out Crow, nearing the end of yet another summer. His last as a high school student. 

A stolen locket, now returned. A stolen moment, beneath the dilapidated rides of an amusement park, now an honest, shared, moment in the remains of a torn down one. 

“You know, we techncially aren’t supposed to be here.” Crow points to the _do not enter_ signs of _Lunar Hill Fun Land._ He doesn’t sound worried, or reluctant, despite his words. 

“Nobody will care.” Seto is sure nobody has looked at the place, since the Ferris Wheel was removed, no longer threatening to fall or run away and destroy more of the rebuilt world. And why would they, really? So few would, they hadn’t even bothered to rebuild the further-still hotel, either. (Maybe, he thinks, he’ll ask Sai if she ever wants to see it, again. Chiyo, too.) 

“Probably not.” Crows agreement is given alongside a squeeze of Seto’s hand. “So are we going somehwere specific?” 

“Down.” Seto points to what they both know leads bellow, too the tunnels. Crow grins at him. “Maybe your collection of books will still be there.” 

“I should have brought a bag.” 

A stolen locket, now returned. A stolen moment, now shared. Seto stops, Crow falling into a stop after him. Seto spins around. A stolen kiss, now reversed. Seto grabs Crows face, light enough that he could easily move. (He doesn’t.) Leans forward until they connect. 

“Hey! That’s no fair!” Crow pouts, when they separate. It’s only a moment, but Seto grins, laughter barely being resisted. “I’m supposed to do that.” 

“You already got to.” Seto does laugh, now. “I guess this makes us _best friends_, huh?” 

“You’re awful, Seto. What happened to you? You used to be so cute.” 

“Was I?” 

“You still are.” Crow shakes his head. “Why is that the part you latched on to? I was trying to tease you.” 

“I’ve grown immune.” Seto’s red face reveals the lie in that, but Crow doesn’t mention it, this one time. “Come on, Crow.” 

“Okay, okay.” Crow follows as Seto leads him into the tunnels bellow. No longer infested with malice, though still unsettling to Seto, they make their way through them until they find Crow's abandoned collection of books. One, Seto was hoping to find, and reaches to pick up. It’s barely holding together, worn with age, pages faded. Still, he holds it to his chest, and turns to face Crow. 

“Look, the book you get all your friendship advice from.” 

“It worked, didn’t it?” 

“Mhm.” Seto smiles, remember his annoyance, then worry, then friendship. “It shouldn't have.” 

“I’m just too charming.” 

“Yeah.” Seto laughs at Crows startled expression. He must not have expected agreement. 

Seto graduates a little more than ten months later. After a short celebration with his parents, he gathers everyone he knows the location of together. Or, rather, he invites them all, and they show up. The same park he’d reunited with Crow at, holds the group together, as they celebrate with Seto his graduation. 

“Welcome to the adult world.” Sai throws an arm around Seto’s shoulders. “Congrats.” 

“Thanks, Sai.” 

“Ren, you’re next.” 

“I’ll do my best.” Ren laughs. “Only one more year.” 

In a moment of quite, Shin gives Seto a small, “You’ve grown so much.” Seto can feel that there’s more to that then just since they’ve met again. The last time Shin- this Shin- saw Seto, in the old life, he was fifteen, and Shin was much, much older. 

Chiyo- the one Seto is most surprised turned up- gives Seto a graduation gift. A small flower pin. Such a simple thing, but Seto understands. Appreciates. 

Ayako is nothing but praises for Seto, tone so much like his mothers was, in congratulating him. “Thank you, PF.” 

“Of course, Seto. I’m proud of you.” 

“It really wasn’t that much…” 

At some point, Seto sees _that person_, and the merchant-reincarnated waves from across the park, enthusiastic, grinning. Seto, unsure what else to do, waves back, before watching them dance their way out of the park. 

“I still don’t know what to think about them…” Seto shakes his head, turning to Ren, who gives him a confused look. “Nothing, the past.” 

“Okay.” Ren offers a smile. “Oh, right, congrats, Seto.” 

“Huh?”

“I never actually said it.” 

“Oh, thank you, Ren.” 

Crow leans over Seto, wrapping his arms around Seto’s shoulders, standing behind where Seto sits at one of the park benches. “Hey, Seto?” 

“Yeah?” 

“I love you.” 

“I- um- I love you too, Crow.” Seto expected more congradulations, feeling suddenly embarassed at being wrong. 

“And congrats on not being a baby, anymore.” 

“Thanks…” 

Seto lays in bed, later, holds his locket close to his chest. Re-listens the still-engraved memories attached to it, again. Remembers, again, how much pain, hurt, and acceptance there was, for what happened to his friends. Is once again reminded how little of that he feels, now. 

How much happier he is, now. 

_Thank you, everyone_, Seto thinks. _I love you_. 

_ “I was fifteen at the end of that summer…”_

Nineteen, at the beginning of summer, Seto places the locket in a desk drawer, and breathes a sigh, content. “I’ll leave you with happier memories, next time.”

The world ended once. It’s rebuilt, now. Seto walks through filled streets, on his way to meet with one of his reincarnated friends, and remember how empty they were once. 

_Thank you_. Seto doesn’t know who to thank, if there even is someone responsible. So he thanks his friends. _Thank you for being here._

**Author's Note:**

> comments are always greatly appreciated
> 
> edit: the formatting to messed up at one point somehow? but its fixed  
if you notice any typos feel free to point them out. the latter half especially hasn't been proof read as much.
> 
> edit 2: i know in the torn picture memory the narrator calls herself akane but like.........she's chiyo okay it fits the story too well


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